T cells are a crucial component of the immune system. Not only is T cell activation required for all specific immune responses against infectious agents, but T cells also play an important role in tumor immunity and in autoimmune and allergic diseases. T cell activation is initiated when T cells recognize their specific antigen (Ag) in the context of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules. T cell activation is well known by those of ordinary skill in the art and is characterized by such things as, e.g., cytokine synthesis, induction of various activation markers such as CD25 (interleukin-2 (IL-2) receptor), etc. CD4+ T cells recognize their immunogenic peptides in the context of MHC class II molecules, whereas CD8+ T cells recognize their immunogenic peptides in the context of MHC class I molecules. For induction of T cell activation, cytokine synthesis or effector function, a second signal, mediated through CD28, is required. Two ligands for CD28 are B7-1 (CD80) and B7-2 (CD86). B7-1 and B7-2 are termed co-stimulatory molecules and are typically expressed on professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs). In addition to binding the CD28 receptor, B7-1 and B7-2 also bind the CTLA-4 (CD152) receptor on T cells.
B7 molecules mediate both positive and negative signals to T cells by binding to CD28 and CTLA-4 (CD152) molecules on T cells. CTLA-4 is a negative regulator of the immune system. In general, wild-type (WT) B7-1, e.g., human B7-1, preferentially binds CTLA-4 more strongly than it binds CD28. Typically, wild-type B7-1, e.g., human B7-1, binds CTLA-4 with about 100 times greater affinity than it binds CD28. Binding of B7-1 or B7-2 to CTLA-4 suppresses activation of T cells, resulting in reduced T cell proliferation and cytokine production (see, e.g., Walunas, T. L. et al. (1994) Immunity 1(5):405–413; Alegre, M. L. et al. (1998) J Immunol 161(7):3347–3356). Interaction between B7-1 or B7-2 and CTLA-4 expressed on T cells down-regulates T cell responses and raises thresholds required for activation by CD28. Blockade of CTLA-4/ligand interactions can also augment in vivo tumor immunity (Leach, D. et al. (1996) Science 271:1734–1736). Consequently, CD28 and CTLA-4 play a pivotal role in the regulation of T cell activation and both are essential for proper functioning of the immune system. For example, CD28 deficient mice are severely immunodeficient and show poor antigen specific T cell responses, while CTLA-4 deficient mice die of lymphoproliferative disease, show T cell expansion mediated by CD28 signaling and have a lack of down-regulation of T cell receptor signaling. Upon ligation by the co-stimulatory molecules B7-1 or B7-2, CD28 mediates a co-stimulatory signal that synergizes with T cell receptor signaling to induce, e.g., proliferation, cytokine production and effector functions by both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells (proliferation/activation). Ligation of CTLA-4 with B7-1 (CD80) or B7-2 (CD86), however, dampens the CD80 or CD86 activating signal through CD28, resulting in down-regulation of T cell activation. CD28 ligation reduces the inhibition mediated through the CTLA-4 signaling. CTLA-4 ligation mediates tolerance and anergy.
CD28 and CTLA-4 are both involved in the generation of an immune response to genetic vaccinations (e.g., nucleic acid vaccinations (NAV), DNA vaccinations, and viral vectors). CD28 deficient mice are unable to mount T cell or antibody responses against Beta-galactosidase (Beta-gal) when immunized with a plasmid encoding the Beta-gal gene, and CTLA-4 ligation suppresses the antibody response to Beta-gal in immunized wild-type mice (Horspool, J. et al. (1998), J Immunol 160:2706–2714). Expression of B7-1 on human myeloma cells (Wendtner, C. et al. (1997) Gene Therapy 4(7):726–735), murine mammary tumors (Martin-Fontecha, A. et al.(2000) J Immunol 164(2):698–704) or murine sarcoma (Indrova et al. (1998) Intl J Onc 12(2):387–390) enhances anti-tumor immunity. Furthermore, transfection of human APCs with retroviral vectors encoding B7-1 and tumor antigens induces a stronger cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) response than transfection with similar vectors encoding the tumor antigens alone (Zajac, P. et al. (1998) Cancer Res 58(20):4567–4571). Anti-viral responses are also modulated by co-stimulatory molecules. For example, DNA vaccination of chimpanzees and mice with HIV antigens in conjunction with B7-2 augmented anti-viral responses (Kim, J. et al. (1998) Vaccine 16(19):1828–1835; Tsuji et al. (1997) Eur J Immunol 27(3):782–787).
The binding properties of B7-1 and B7-2 have limited their usefulness in clinical applications. The present invention addresses needs for molecules having varied abilities to preferentially bind to and/or signal through either CD28 or CTLA-4 receptor and methods of using such molecules for selected and differential manipulation of T cell responses in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo methods. Such molecules would be of beneficial use in a variety of applications, including, e.g., therapeutic and prophylactic treatments and vaccinations. The present invention fulfills these and other needs.